An Icon of the Modern Age
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 The Chrysler Building was a decided break from the gothic and classical spires that had come before, exampled by the Woolworth Building.
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The Decorative Details
 Chrysler had Van Allen incorporate some decorative designs associated with automobiles on the facades to promote his products.

 The building still had gargoyles, but these were not the ornate stone sculptures from the Woolworth building, but gleaming symbols of the automobile industry.

 The decorative treatment of the masonry walls changes with every setback. It includes story-high ornamental brick designs and a band of abstract automobiles. 
to have s.o. do = jmd. etwas tun lassen
to incorporate = einfgen
to associate with = in Verbindung bringen mit		 gargoyle = Wasserspeier
treatment = Behandlung
masonry = Mauerwerk
setback = Absatz, Rücksprung
brick = Ziegelstein
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This is an original radiator cap of a Chrysler automobile, after which the gargoyles were designed.
 
 
 
radiator = (Auto-)Kühler
radiator cap = Kühlerdeckel

 
Click the radiator cap!
The corners of the 61st floor were graced with eagles, replicas of the 1929 Chrysler hood ornaments.
 
 
 
to grace with = schmücken mit
eagle = Adler
hood = Motorhaube

 
 
 
Click one of the eagles!
Margaret Bourke-White, the photographer, had a studio on the building's 61st floor and posed atop one of the eagles in a famous photograph.
The Spire
 What is most striking about the Chrysler building is the spire. The general massing of the building's base and shaft is rather unremarkable. It did not approach the high Modern style of the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society (1932).)

 But the building's apex is breathtakingly brilliant. It was one of the first uses of stainless steel over a large exposed building surface.The steel cladding was ribbed in a radiant pattern and had many triangular windows that followed the parabolic curves of the seven narrow steps of each of the crown's four facades. It seems to form a series of sunbursts.
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striking = auffallend
spire = Spitze, Turmhelm
unremarkable = unauffällig
to approach = annähern, erreichen
apex = Spitze
breathtakingly = atemberaubend
stainless = rostfrei		 exposed = nach außen gerichtet
cladding = Verkleidung
radiant = strahlenförmig
pattern = Muster
triangular = dreieckig
sunburst = Sonnenstrahlung
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The Race for Height
 Van Allen originally had planned a 56-story tower to beat out the proposed 55 stories of the Lincoln Building at 60 West 42nd Street. When J. E. R. Carpenter, the architect of the Lincoln Building project, upped his project to 63 stories, Van Allen went back to the drawing board and proposed a 65-story tower that soon became 67 stories and 808 feet high.
originally = usprünglich
to beat out = übertreffen
to propose = vorschlagen, planen
story = Stockwerk
to up = aufstocken
drawing board = Zeichenbrett
foot = Fuß (ca. 30 cm)
 Walter P. Chrysler decided that his company could benefit from developing the world's tallest building. Chrysler did not did not instruct Van Allen to radically change the building's form, but to increase its height to 925 feet and add some decorative touches to herald his cars.
to decide = beschließen
to benefit = Vorteil haben
to develop = entwickeln
radically = grundlegend
to increase = steigern
touch = hier: kleine Änderung
to herald = verkünden, Werbung machen für
 The Bank of Manhattan Building, under construction at the same time, topped out at 927 feet, two feet above the Chryslerís announced height. It appeared that the Bank of Manhattan had won, but van Alen had a plan:
to top out = enden (i.d. Höhe)
to announce = ankündigen
to appear = erscheinen

 
 The spire had been secretly assembled in the buildingís fire shaft. Suddenly, it was hoisted into place in one 27 ton piece and riveted into place in about 90 minutes in November, 1929, raising the Chrysler Building's height to 1046 feet, 119 feet taller than the Bank of Manhattan and even taller than the Eiffel Tower. 
to assemble = montieren
shaft = Schacht
to hoist = aufziehen
to rivet = nieten

 
For a little while the Chrysler Building was the tallest building on earth.
Chrysler's reign was short. A few months later the Empire State Building was completed at 1244 feet.
reign = Herrschaft
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This chart was published in 'Fortune' and is probably the best illustration of the craze for size. The Empire State Building is on the left, folowed by  the Eiffel Tower, the Chrysler Building, the Manhattan Bank, the Woolworth Tower, and other, older skyscrapers.
chart = Tabelle, Tafel craze = Wahnsinn
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